two are made up of verses and ritual formulae, meant to be recited at Sacrifices. The Atharva Samhita resembles the Rik in that it forms a store of songs, devoted to sacrifices mostly in connection with incantations and magical charms.
The Brahmanic period comprehends " the first establishment of the three-fold ceremonial, the composition of the individual Brahmanas and the formation of the Charanas.'r They connect the sacrificial songs and formulas with the sacrificial rite by pointing out on the one hand their direct relation, and on the other their symbolical connection with each other. The general nature of these works is marked by shallow but masterly grandiloquence, by prepossessed conceit but antiquarian sincerity. In the words of Prof. Eggelingt these works deserve to be studied as a physician studies the twaddle of idiots or the raving of mad men. With all this, the composition lacks not striking thoughts, bold expression and logical reasoning. The Brahmanas of the Rik generally refer to the duties of the Hotr ; of the Saman, to those of Udgatr ; of the Yajus, to, the actual performance of the sacrifice. They are valuable to us as the earliest records of Sanskrit prose.
The Sutra literature has its claim to our attention, in that it forms a connecting Jink between the Vedic and the later Sanskrit. The Sutras themselves are most artificial, most enigmatical. ' Sutra' means a * string' and compatibly with this sense, all works of this style are nothing but one uninterrupted chain of short sentences linked together in a most concise form, "Even the apparent simplicity" says Colebrooke, " vanishes in the perplexity of structure. The endless pursuit of exceptions and limitations so disjoins the general precepts, that the reader cannot keep in view their intended